People residing within certain health classifications, such as those people afflicted with Alzheimer's disease, require a substantial amount of costly medical and non-medical care during the period of time in which they are afflicted with such a debilitating disease. The amount of required care typically escalates as the disease progresses. Also, as the disease progresses, it becomes more likely that the disease will facilitate, but not necessarily cause, pre-mature 1 death of the afflicted person.
Some health care professionals believe that early detection and treatment of Alzheimer's disease could eventually slow progression of the disease, reduce the amount and cost of long term care required to be provided to such a person, and in some circumstances, enable a person to delay and/or even avoid the most severe stages of the disease prior to the eventual death of that person. Technology that can provide early detection of Alzheimer's disease at a cost that is substantially less than the cost of existing methods of detection is needed. Such technology could reduce the massive projected costs of caring for future Alzheimer's patients.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.